Selling Sun City AZ

I know, the header sounds crass, but the simple reality is Sun City sells itself. But, there's a great big if; and it all hinges on getting potential buyers to come see it for themselves. It's why John Meeker was such a genius. His Play and Stay program was the 13 year marketing tool (1965-1978) that skyrocketed sales in the community to unheard of levels.

If you look around at the age restricted communities opening today, they still use variations of Play and Stay. They know if they can get people to visit, the glitz of the community will sell itself. The funny thing is, in those first 5 years of Sun City, they had some of the best ads and best copy writing i have ever seen/read.

Back in those early years, Sun City had no competition to speak of. It was the challenge of getting over the perception of moving in with a bunch of old farts who had moved here waiting to die. Silliness really, because all of us who found it understood, we moved here to live. And for most, live better than we had ever considered possible.

In the thread, Selling the Compound, i wanted to see if the idea of promoting Sun City AZ through the eyes of the housing had any appeal? Back in another life, we often talked about the importance of telling our stories. Let's face it, seldom will you see a book by and about your average Joe. The extension from the those living in Sun City, to and through their journey to create their place in the sun seemed at least casually interesting.

To amplify, in virtually every organization i have volunteered for here, my interactions with people has started with a simple question: how did you get to Sun City? It rarely fails to elicit an interesting discussion on where they came from, where they are living and what they have done to their house. It quickly breaks down barriers and builds into something more than a passing hello.

It's why i have always dreamed of creating a website devoted to telling the Sun City story in a series of stories that include the history, the housing, personal vignettes of folks wanting to share and of course video of all things Sun City. It could be a powerful tool in selling Sun City AZ.

I'm always asking people where they are from and why they moved to Sun City.
I have yet to hear anyone say something negative about SC. Well, maybe a temp of 110!!!
The one thing I don't like is the fact that so many of my neighbors are snowbirds and gone half the year.
It makes for a bit less social life. However, with snowbirds gone there is less traffic on the streets and in the stores and church.

BTW. My name was in the newspaper twice during the past week. Once time for working at the Posse.
The other time for writing about drivers going thru red lights.